So, a soft song with a hint of melancholy began to sound in this pitch-black night.
"In that touch of gentleness, one glimpses"
"The fact that we are not strong"
"Gentleness gradually"
"Tossing and turning yet beyond control"
The girl closed her eyes gently, her voice tender yet so fragile, under the dark night sky where flecks of light appeared. They swayed in the cold wind, like candle flames that might go out at any moment, and then these will-o'-the-wisps circled, revealing the contours and shapes of the wind in the night, slowly drifting apart.
"This world is not so beautiful"
"Always following a twisted system"
"Yet unable to deceive the voice that comes from within"
"It's precisely because there's still gentleness in the heart"
"That weakness can continue to exist"
The singing spread like ripples, carried by the night wind to the distance. The world seemed to quiet down at this. Unknowingly, the people by the distant bonfire also stopped talking to listen to the distant song that reached their ears, gradually immersing themselves in the slowly rising vast river of stars, with only that lonely song continuing to spread.
"What is there left to detest at this point"
"If you can still move forward, then set out on the path you long for"
"Oh cold stars in the night sky"
"Please illuminate and embrace these pains"
"Even if this overflowing sadness is endless"
"It will take on new forms and welcome its shining moment"
Although it was her first time singing, in that cool voice seemed to reside endless sadness and tenderness, as if standing before a planet on the verge of death and destruction, reminiscing the frozen moments of sadness in history, making one unable to help but tear up.
After a long time, the singing gradually stopped, the cold dancing fireflies also vanished into the night sky, and the whole world returned to pitch black, peaceful and utterly still. Slowly, the girl sitting on the stone opened her eyes, gazing up once more at the ageless vast river of stars above her head, and stood up.
Although her delicate figure remained so tiny, that silhouette in the night was so unforgettable, lonely, melancholic, fragile yet tenacious, unshakable. Even though she was just a girl of the same age, one could not help but feel the urge to look up to her.
"Truly frightening," N thought as he watched the girl's receding figure in the distance, touched the traces of tears on his cheeks, and felt an indescribable shock in his heart. He was no naive child among those present; having once fought his way out of the Underworld, N's mentality had long become cold and tenacious. Now, simply because of a song, he found himself overcome with emotion, tears welling up, which utterly challenged his reason and perception.
He was not a person given to sentimentality, but if it wasn't his own doing, that meant the girl in the distance was no ordinary person. And if she possessed such Talent, did it mean... At that moment, N suddenly realized something as if everything clicked into place.
Why was that girl so highly valued by the board of directors? Was it just because of her high combat Talent? Why was she, just a freshman, designated to be the next student council president's successor? Why were her proposed ideas so easily approved by the Academy's upper echelons? Suddenly, all the answers became clear.
Leaning against a truck on the edge of the camp, N pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took it to his lips, taking slow breaths to steady the turbulent thoughts and realizations in his mind. Sure enough, before long, his personal terminal in his pocket rang, and a confidential agreement sent by the board needed his signature.
"I've truly brought out an extraordinary student," he said as he pressed his thumb down and entered the secret key from his identity chip, confirming the agreement.